of rooms that are bigger on the inside
by the other ghost girl
Summary: When the Doctor crash lands in an alternate universe he meets a feral looking boy (who turns out NOT to be a boy) and takes him in while he repairs the TARDIS, however they come to the attention of a mad "king" and the two quickly become entangled in a bitter war. Features a bitter 9th Doctor fresh from the time war and a young werecat.
1. Chapter 1: Our story begins

It was supposed to be a meeting of the werecats who lived near Urubaen, They were debating on whether or not to remain there or leave for the spine or leave Alagaesia itself while a young werecat dozed with his mother when three humans atop once-dragons attacked them. As he ran his immediate thought was confusion, Dragons had been the friends of the werecats for longer than elves or dwarves had lived here. The fact that these were gleefully tearing apart and burning the meeting place and anyone foolish enough to come near them clearly contradicted that fact. The young werecat ran after his mother as the tip of his tail caught fire but was quickly extinguished by a gust of the wind that always blew through the meeting place. This wind was now a blessing and a curse as the wind put out small flames but also directed the larger ones to trees and only made them larger. The panic increased as thousands of werecats ran in fear from place to place. In the huge exodus of werecats fleeing in uncharacteristic fear and panic he lost sight of his mother, mewling helplessly for her she touched his mind and told him to simply run and that she would meet him where he had spent his first year. After running through the burning forest and miles from harm he stopped. After he had calmed himself and regained his wits panic and abandonment settled in. Mewling desperately he looked for his mother. Then he remembered what she had said and started towards his mother's first den sight.

* * *

>The Doctor was feeling bitter, and sad. Extremely sad, it had come to pass that his homeworld and his companion were now gone forever and he was left alone again. He had sealed galiffery away and the horrors of the time war along with it. He was back were he started again, with nothing but an old TARDIS although he now had a sonic screwdriver it seemed that he had started over again with even less. Frustrated he threw it at the control panel. It inadvertently started the TARDIS. At first he tried to gain control of the machine but eventually resorted to hanging onto a coil for dear life. Suddenly the TARDIS made a grinding noise and came to a sudden violent stop, this jarred him from it and caused him to go flying through the air and smack into a wall. After a few moments of lying dazed on the floor he dusted himself off and did a quick inventory to make sure that he hadn't been injured in the crash. After assuring himself he was in fact fine he opened the TARDIS's door to see where he had crashed and how much damage he had caused. A cursory examination of the landscape revealed that he was in the mountains... somewhere. It looked most like the Rockies in America but it smelled all wrong. Snow covered the ground where the heat from the time machine hadn't already melted it. After thinking for another moment he concludes that he must have accidentally fallen into some sort of pocket dimension. After musing on this for a moment more he sees something move weakly. Turning he realizes what he had mistaken for a pile of dead leaves was actually a young boy who looked to be about 3 or 4 years old. The boy is naked and dirty with leaves and branches stuck in his hair and has a feral look on his face. His ribs protrude at an odd angle and he has red marks on his body that suggest he was burned. The boy looks up at him shivering and gives one last heave to get on his feet before passing out. The Doctor only thinks for a moment before deciding to take the boy inside the TARDIS. Luckily one of the few things not damaged in the crash was the infirmary. After he is no longer in any immediate danger the Doctor begins to go about fixing his TARDIS as quickly as possible so that he can leave this dimension before whatever portal that brought him here closes.<p><p>

* * *

>It had been months since the meeting place had been destroyed and a few weeks since he had arrived at the first den site. After the adrenalin had worn off he began to feel the full force of his injuries. He had bruises from where others of his kind had roughly shoved him and burns from his panicked flight through the forest. He had assumed his human like form, that of a small child, when near settlements and had either received food from kindhearted humans or garbage and rocks being thrown at him from the wicked and cruel. However as he neared the first den site the humans became more frugal and they were either apathetic or they barely had enough food to feed their families. His stomach was always empty because he had not yet learned to hunt,He eventually made it to the den site and without the energy to revert to his normal form lay curled on the ground in his humanoid form. It was cold but without fur or even fat reserves to keep him warm he lay on the ground and began to feel his body go numb. He felt so exhausted but he kept himself awake at the thought that his mother would be there soon. Just as his body was beginning to fail him and he was beginning to go into the stupor that preceded the sleep of death. A grinding crashing sound the likes of which he had never heard brought back his attention. He opened his eyes as a gust of warm air rushed across the area and melted the snow nearest to it. It was a large blue object that was like nothing he had ever seen before. The closest he had seen to it was the humans dwellings but they weren't as beautiful a blue or as perfect and straight. He watched in muted wonder as it glowed. Just as the cold had begun to set in again a strange looking bald creature that looked similar to a human emerged from it. He was startled and began to weakly try to get away, but the creature seemed to notice him. Because of his movement, eyes widening he tried to get away but only succeeded in exhausting himself to the point of losing consciousness.<p><p>

He began to come to slowly, he noticed firstly that he was no longer cold and wondered if this was the afterlife, As he began to awaken even more he became aware of a strange noise, that sounded similar to a bird chirping. He finally determined that he was indeed, somehow alive, when he felt the pain of his hunger and his burns and various bruises he realized he was indeed alive. His eyes jerked open and he saw that he was in the strangest landscape he had ever seen. He was attached to something that was under his skin. He pulled it loose and hissed in pain. He licked the wound and got on all fours to explore this new environment. It appeared to be some kind of cave. He reached out with his mind searching for the reassuring touch of his mother and found that the cave was actually alive, but not in the way he was alive, but more akin to the way that a tree was alive. Something about this strange tree-cave was slightly comforting, because even though it didn't reply the feeling of another being that seemed to respond slightly to the touch of his mind unlike the humans. He padded around in search of food for his growling stomach. After a moment of wandering through the tree-cave he saw a human like creature working on a large structure. In the middle of a section of the tree-cave. He quickly jumped behind a wall and peered around it. He remembered now. The human creature must have taken him somewhere. He saw that it had noticed him and was walking towards him now. Hands in a submissive gesture. He was speaking in the language of the humans that his mother had taught him. "It's all right, I'm not going to hurt you. I found you out in the cold and I took you here so that you wouldn't freeze to death" He had a accent similar to the one he had heard the humans in all of the villages speak with, but it was different and alien at the same time. He withdrew back behind his mental shields and started backing up, eyes wide. He felt something strong trying to worm it's way through his mental shields and pushed back with a mentally shouted "NO!" The man stopped and in an attempt to deter him further he reverted to his normal form and bristled his fur menacingly. This thing was foreign nothing in Alagaesia could get that close to going inside a werecat's mind without it wanting to. Suddenly the false human creature hands still in a submissive gesture and a curious expression on his face backed up and grabbed something from a strange looking crate near the thing he was working on. He opened it and the smell of meat flooded his nostrils. Although he hesitated for a moment the promise of food that wasn't prey food or human dry "bread" overwhelmed fear and he rushed forward and proceeded to quickly devour the morsel, purring despite his trepidation. After several more of these he licked his lips and looked cautiously at the creature standing before him. For what seemed like an hour the time lord and the werecat simply stared at each other. Hesitantly he reached out to the other creature's mind and finding that it was shielded in a complex way that allowed him to communicate with it spoke. ithank you, I would have died had you not taken me in./i the very fact that he was thanking this strange creature was strange for it was not in a werecat's nature to do so. However it is the appropriate thing to do when someone has just saved your life. i You may call me Solembum. What do they call you? /i The strange looking creature gave him a look before saying "They call me the Doctor"


	2. Chapter 2: Shadows that move

**The rest of the story will be pretty much told in joint focus with few exceptions.**

The creature that called itself Solembum sat with it's tail twitching back and forth as it watch the Doctor repair the TARDIS console. After he had explained that he had no intention of harming him, but rather wished to repair his ship and drop him off someplace where he could be well cared for and be on his merry way the creature seemed to be content with sitting on one of the decorative arches (out of his reach he noticed) and watching him. It took him a few hours to complete the repairs after which the creature jumped down stretched and politely sat by the door. "Why do you want to go outside? You'll catch your death of cold." he asked looking casually over at the catlike creature as he made a few final adjustments. "_I may have not been in many households but my mother taught me that in any house, human, elf, dwarf, or urgal, it is considered rude to__...'relieve' myself on their floor" _The Doctor gave the creature a look "Can't you use a toilet?" Solembum cocked his head like a dog. _"what is a 'toilet'?"_

The Doctor sighed and told him to hold it and ran quickly to the TARDIS closet. He returned with a doggy jumper. The creature was about the size of a smallish dog so it would fit perfectly. Solembum's eyes narrowed. _"that is completely ridiculous looking I shall not wear it" _The Doctor made an exasperated noise. "It'll keep you warm and it'll only be for a few minutes." reluctantly Solembum let the Doctor fit him with the sweater. The Doctor let him outside and stood there with the TARDIS door slightly ajar so that if a quick escape was needed he wouldn't have to waste time opening the door. Solembum took his time finding a place that was deemed suitable to his needs and afterward he spent five minutes chasing a bird where upon catching it, hardly a good enough meal for it had been to foolish to leave with it's flock when fall was approaching and was caught in the mountains. Pleased with his first successful hunt he carried the thin dead animal to the Doctor to have someone see it. However he noticed a movement behind him. He turned and hissed through his mouthful of sparrow and bristled his fur to make himself look more menacing. However what he saw wasn't anything that belonged in this or any world naturally. It was a creature that moved along the ground like a shadow but was anything but. It seemed to have unholy red glowing eyes. The Doctor saw the creature too and screamed for him to get into the TARDIS but the door had slammed shut and the key would not work. The eyes looked very VERY hungry. In fear and shock Solembum had dropped the sparrow. Noticing it as if for the first time he picked up the bird and threw it at it, then ran. Solembum and the Doctor ran so quickly, or so the people who witnessed the man and the cat in a bright pink fuzzy jumper running out of the spine, that they reached Palencar valley by nightfall. Hiding in a secluded spot where torchlight still reached them they both panted. _"what was that? It is not of Alagaesia nor is it of Surda or any other land that EXISTS!" _ The Doctor took a moment to catch his breath, even a time lord could get tired. "Vashta Nerada, they are native here but not that... Something's altered their DNA, twisted it and fused them together,that has to be at least a thousand of them fused together to create that thing." They took a moment to catch their breath "Would you like to have your fortune told?" They both started and jumped around to see a short 20 year old woman with dark curly hair. " You know a magician so far from the capital and a werecat in a jumper isn't something I expected to see. My name's Angela, Yes I know you didn't ask but then again people never seem to, and it makes it terribly boring"

**this chapter is a little awkward sounding, however this is mostly to get to the next one . I've got several ideas involving Elves, Razac, Dragons, and Sundavrblaka. The Varden of course will be involved. :D **


	3. Chapter 3: Angela vs the Razac

**Hallo! :D Sorry this chapter is a little late I hope that it's worth it though**

* * *

>The Doctor was about to reply when he felt a chill go down his spine. The strange girl yelped and pulled them into a darker part of the alley. He could see two hooded figures walking through the streets with a strange gait. While it was impossible to see their faces because the cowl of their cloaks covered them the Doctor could tell that they weren't human. Something in the way they carried themselves seemed more...predatory. He could also smell them and whatever it was probably wasn't even a mammal. The Doctor could hear them speaking, the TARDIS wouldn't translate it either because it was too primitive or it was a language too old for it to know. He could feel <strong>both<strong> hearts stop beating for a moment when one of them looked at him. "run?" He asked quietly to the girl, she had said her name was Angela before right?, "Run" She said in agreement. Then the Doctor and his companions ran.

It had taken several minutes for them to catch up, if there's one thing to be said about time lords they have excellent stamina, It probably would have taken longer if he hadn't already ran for his life earlier that day. When the two creatures stopped the Doctor was alone standing calmly in front of a tree, although it was undeniable that he was probably catching his breath he made it look like he had stopped

because he was waiting for them to catch up. "Hello, I'm the Doctor" He said cheerfully. The creatures where caught by surprise at this seemingly unafraid greeting, they were used to being received by their prey as death itself. Taking a hold of the situation the Doctor continued "I'm afraid I've never seen something quite like you, What exactly do you call yourselves?" The creatures where still slightly confused "whhhhhat

weeeee are isssssssssssssss nnnooot of your consssssernnnnn, iffff you ssssuuurrrrrrender weeeee maaaay chooossssssse to let you keep all oofffffff yourrrr limbssssss intactttttt." The Doctor looked a hurt expression "Well that's rude I told you my name so why don't you tell me yours?" This seemingly foolish attempt at conversation was actually a way of buying himself some time, If he knew what these things where then he'd know how to incapacitate them long enough to get some answers. The speech patterns suggested something possibly reptilian, but the fact that it was well below zero meant that was highly unlikely, the odd gait could suggest either avian or maybe...The Doctor shook his head. Why wasn't he thinking clearly? Normally he would have had it by now, Then it hit him. He quickly pulled up his shirt over his nose, and began to back away. "Cleeeevvvvvvverrrrrrrr youuuu musssst havvvve figured it outttttt." These things where emitting some kind of chemical into the air, The Doctor continued back away from the creature which was beginning to remove it's hood. It looked very insect like, almost like a beetle, but the beak resembled something more akin to a squid. The Doctor's body was beginning to seize and he could feel any unprotected body parts start to go numb. Just as he was starting to fall to his knees he heard a sickening CRUNCH and the creature in front of him crumpled to the ground. Hissing the second turned to find Angela holding a rather large branch. She grinned in a very Psychotic manner and hit the second one upside the head as well. She proceeded to grab the Doctor by the hand urge him to run, after about five minutes of half running half dragging the ended up right around the spot where the trio had split into two. Solembum was sitting on a stump looking calm despite his puffed out tail saying otherwise. "I suppose now that we're on the run from the Razac you two could tell me who you are and what you did to get the 'king' sending out his personal kidnappers and assassins after you?" After a 12 minute long introduction and a hastily made up story by Solembum about a transport spell gone wrong Angela broke out into a wide grin and did a short excited dance. "Oh this is wonderful! Rebel Magicians , Razac, Werecats and I've only been away from

my master for two days!" Solembum looked puzzled and the Doctor, still shaking off the effects of the Razac's airborne tranquilizer, didn't respond immediately. "Your master?" He eventually chocked out after a few moments of what appeared to be dry heaving (but hey with the Doctor you never know) Angela gave the Doctor a look. "Technically I'm an apprentice, But I decided that helping him keep his shack clean and cooking for him so that he can keep 'solving the mysteries of the universe' until I'm an old woman isn't what I want to do, I feel that hands on experience is more appropriate." The Doctor got up and gave her a curious look. "What exactly are you apprenticing as?" Angela gave him a wide grin. "Well if you knew then that wouldn't be quite as fun would it." Deciding not to pursue the subject further he looked around. "How would he be able to find the TARDIS's energy signature... this dimension hasn't gotten that advanced" Not one to be ignored Angela cut in "My master says that Razac can smell particularly strong magic." The almost random comment cut the Doctor's train of thought in half. For a minute he and Solembum stared at her in award silence. "You know like the failed transport spell. The king might send them to try and capture a magician that strong to try to ….. excuse the phrase, 'Persuade' them to join his side" She stood and dusted the dirt off of her skirt "And judging from the fact that you not only knocked out two of his best bounty hunters but have a werecat accompanying you he's not likely to stop" The Doctor took a moment to think and walk around and return feeling to his legs. "How long until the King sends reinforcements?" Angela thought for a moment. "It depends, He could decide that the Razac are enough and that this was a fluke, or he could decide that you're more powerful and thus more desirable than previously thought and then one of two things will happen" She paused "He will send the leathablaka as well as the Razac, or he will send his pet Shade as well." The Doctor glanced in her direction. "I'm guessing both would be very bad." "Of course" she replied. " You mentioned the resistance before, where exactly are they stationed?" The girl looked at him and laughed. "What? What's so funny?" She managed to slow the guffaws to a small handful of giggles "If everyone knew where the resistance was stationed then they'd all be DEAD!" The Doctor gave her a exasperated look. She eventually stopped laughing "I do know a man who might be able to tell us though, if he decides that he can trust you." "What happens if he decides he dosn't trust me?" Angela gave him a hesitant glance. "Let's just hope he does."

**For future reference Angela is in her late teens early twenties at this point. She isn't as powerful mentally (although she is pretty powerful, just not quite a younger female version of Gandalf quite yet) or magically and she doesn't have as much information about plants as she does when we meet her in the first book, she does have almost super human strength and endurance and that peculiarity about her that we all know and love, albeit at more of a Luna  
>Lovegood level<strong>


	4. Cloak and Dagger

Angela had been staying with an old friend while she was trying to figure out what  
>to do next, when said friend heard that this just happened to come in the form of the Doctor she<br>was hesitant to trust him, but grateful that the next step had been him rather than some rowdy Urgal cheiftan  
>or some sort of shade worshiping cult. Even though she was nervous about giving up one of her horses (a good horse or mule could be<br>the difference between thriving and starving in the spine) she relented when Angela explained the circumstances, and reminded her that she could  
>probably conn her master into buying a new one if the beast died (to be honest it was probably best that the animal went with them, as while it was<br>her best horse, the life of a beast of burden was taking it's toll, if this journey didn't kill it, it would probably die during the following winter,  
>or become unable to work and Elsa would have to take him to the butcher's) Angela had insisted on steering while the Doctor was forced to hold onto the young<br>woman for his (and Solembum's) life. for two days they followed the roads, until Angela saw what she said was the landmark (which appeared to be a rather  
>sad looking scarecrow sitting in an overgrown field) and charged through countryside, and on more than one occasion, nearly crashed into some poor schmuck's<br>barn, or garden. The Doctor was certain that Angela would ride the poor animal to death, and she almost did, but just when the horse was nearly at his limits,  
>Angela pulled back the reigns and tied the animal down at an Inn. Angela paid for a room while the Doctor took the poor horse to the stables.<br>He didn't know much about horses but he tried to clean the lather off as best her could.  
>He managed to buy a blanket off the stable boy to drape over the animal, and took Solembum up to the room.<p>

Angela spent a full hour downstairs, when she did come back up she collapsed in a happily drunk heap on the bed and began to snore. Solembum tried to stay awake and keep the Doctor company, but he was young, and weak and eventually contented himself to curl up in a ball in the crook of the time lord's arm. The Doctor, although he had been through enough to sleep for several days, he was loathe to sleep just yet.

There was so much that he had to think about,and he'd avoided facing the reality of it for too long. First of all Romana had turned on him, and turned him over to Rassilion for treason,  
>They'd tried to kill him and succeeded in killing his grandaughter, that poor kid who'd barely been out of the academey for a hundred years got killed for helping him.<p>

But the bottom line was that he'd managed to do what none of the others had the courage (or maybe it was rage) to do, and ended the war.

While killing everyone involved in the process.

Romana, Rassilion, the Rani his great grandchildren, everyone.

Even though he had done what he did to save the universe, it didn't excuse the enormous loss of life.  
>He kept thinking that maybe if he'd been smarter...<br>maybe if he'd been faster...  
>Maybe if he'd been as clever as he said he was he might have found a way to end it without killing them.<br>The Doctor smirked as he suddenly remembered a stray quote. "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few"... it just so happened that this time it happened that the few  
>were closer to home than normal.<p>

In a way, maybe it was a mercy that they had been killed. Towards the end of the war, the Time lords had been pushing themselves to new lows to try and win, and even when they seemed  
>to be winning, they were losing more and more of what they stood for in the process. Who was to say that if they had survived that they would go back to the way it was before?<br>Who was to say that the pride of defeating the daleks wouldn't drive them to wage more time wars? It wouldn't be the first time that national pride had made good people (or in this case, aliens)  
>do bad things.<p>

By killing them before that happened, he was preserving the legends and memories various species and cultures had of the great and noble time lords, and keep them alive..  
>at least in that aspect.<p>

The doctor continued along this train of thought, trying to justify the genocide he had committed, when the door slowly opened. The Doctor didn't move a muscle.

The Doctor moved just as quietly as the intruder did and managed to get up without waking Solembum, or creaking the floorboards.

When he was just barely within striking distance of Angela, the Doctor lit a candle.

The figure leapt back in surprise, obviously not expecting anyone to be awake. The Doctor held a finger to his lips and gestured to the sleeping Angela and Solembum. "You should be asleep-" "I'm guessing it was something in the food? I've been too worked up to be hungry, so I gave mine to the cat. I hope you didn't put too strong of a dose in there. I'd be VERY angry if it killed him" The figure, which the Doctor judged to be a man somewhere in his early to mid thirties was stunned, for several minutes he didn't react, which gave the Doctor the opportunity to pull out his sonic screwdriver and check Solembum's vitals.

He sighed with relief, whatever it was hadn't been potent enough that the emaciated werecat could overdose on it. The Doctor put his screwdriver back into his jacket.

He turned to find that the intruder had snuck up behind him. "_slytha"_ he murmured, and the air shimmered, but nothing else happened. The man looked at the Doctor with surprise "How-" "Sorry for the disappointment, but I'm afraid that it won't work on me." Suddenly the time lord crumpled to the floor, standing behind him was an older man. He glared at his young companion in irritation, "You see? This is why I keep telling them that they need to cut down on all this cloak and dagger magic shit"


End file.
